Day V: Vila Praia de Âncora -> Tui; 👣: 7.7mi, 🛶: 15mi (ish).

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🍴: I wish I had taken more photos of food yesterday – my salmon sandwich and the local fish my friend from France helped me fillet. But here is what the food looked like today ..

A simple, standard, breakfast while we waited to go to the river – tea and toast with cheese (essentially grilled cheese for breakfast, not mad about it); 3€.

Pastal Nata, a local pastry filled with custard. It is delicious and especially popular in Portugal. This picture also features my new bracelet.

The incredible picnic lunch they set up for us on our canoe trip – cheeses and breads, a variety of spreads, watermelon, olives, beer, yogurt and a homemade cake.

This was our dinner, a “pilgrims meal.” For 9€ we got a drink of any kind, unlimited bread and the pictured snacks, a meal with two sides (I tried cuttlefish with a tuna pasta salad and a salad). It also came with dessert and a post-dinner coffee. Oh and our waitress brought us a night cap, too (also dinner ended at 11pm).

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Yesterday as we were wrapping up our walk, I mentioned to a friend that the next day (today) I would aim to walk extremely far to catch up with the two friends I had parted ways with for the coastal route.

I mentioned that I was bummed about leaving our trail family, as I didn’t expect anyone to want to go as far as I would, and I mentioned that I was worried about walking so many miles myself.

The first thing we noticed as we walked into our albergue shortly after that conversation was a sign advertising “camino by boat,” a canoe trip along the very stretch I was unsure I would be able to cover.

I looked into it and she separately expressed interest.

Before embarking on this camino, I resolved to make it my own trip: to cater to my physical needs and my needs for rest beyond the physical kind after such a rigorous calendar year. In summary, I did not come here demanding of myself that I walk every single mile on foot with a heavy pack. (But I also didn’t rule out the possibility of doing so).

This resolution gets increasingly difficult as you accrue people you care about, and want to stay on pace with, along the way; but at the end of the day everyone is on their own trip with their own aches and timelines, too.

The canoe trip was a perfect happy medium for me and the friend who joined me. Two of our other companions expressed some interest, but unfortunately there were only two spots left when we called.

This morning, we woke up early to walk five miles to the down we would leave from. We enjoyed the early morning walk side by side, listening to the waves and a few Mat Kearny songs, appreciating our identical gait.

We made good time and enjoyed a nice breakfast before we were picked up and driven to the canoes (second time in a motorized vehicle this camino).

At the river, we met our captain and the other three we would be rowing with – a couple from Germany and the first American I’ve met on this stretch of the coastal route.

We spent the morning paddling along the Mino river, which serves as the geographical boarder between Spain and Portugal. It was wild knowing that at any given time we could technically cross country lines without having anything to show for it, except our phones ping-ponging back and forth between time zones (there is an hour time difference).

It was an enjoyable day and I’m thankful for the break it gave my achy feet and back. I’m also thankful it allowed me to catch up with my friends without ruining myself, especially on a day we “lost” an hour.

We ended the canoe trip and walked another 2.5mi to our albergue with one of our canoe friends where we reunited with my friends and their new friends. We all walked to dinner where our other two canoe friends joined us. And that was day five.

🎒:

At any given time, I can be found with my Topo Designs “quick pack” around my waist, filled with my money, phone charger, chapstick (I’m a Salt and Stone snob), phone and important documents. I can also be found with my Rooted Shade glasses around my neck and my Odell’s brewery neck strap.

🎶:

The only music I listened to today were two of this mans songs as I shared his music with my friend. He will forever be my all time favorite.